Hewlett-Packard's new Pavilion HDX series of laptop computers is known as "the Dragon", and boy, does it live up to its name. These monsters start out with a high price, but you get features that we have rarely seen on a laptop computer.

For starters, the screen is a huge 20.1 inches of high-definition goodness; that's larger than most of us have for our desktop computer LCD. The resolution is a deep 1680X1050, so text and images appear crisp and clear, and you've got a lot of display area for watching movies or showing multiple applications.

The HDX laptops feature a lot of other HD components as well, including an optical drive that can play HD DVDs (you can also upgrade to a drive that plays Blu-ray DVDs) and an HDTV tuner that lets you watch and record high-def television shows on this laptop. It also features four integrated speakers and a subwoofer, and the included remote control lets you handle all the multimedia actions from across the room. That optical drive is also a Super Multi DVD writer, so you can create your own non-HD DVDs as well.

These laptops perform powerfully, as well. The baseline processor is a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 CPU that HP pairs with 2GB of speedy 667MHz DDR2 memory. These laptops even support Intel's new Core 2 Extreme processors, although stepping up to the 2.8GHz X7900 CPU will add a significant amount to the already high price tag.

HP makes these laptops gamer-friendly thanks to the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600XT graphics card and its 256MB of dedicated video memory and DirectX 10 support. This card also boosts playback performance and features an HDMI output port so you can watch HD movies or TV shows on your home theater HDTV.

Storage starts out at an impressive 240GB on twin 120GB 5,400rpm hard drives. Depending on your HDTV recording habits, you might need more room, so you can beef up the storage space to either 320GB or 500GB.

HP includes a nice range of extras on these systems such as a built-in webcam and fingerprint reader. There is also built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11b/g, although you can upgrade to a faster 802.11n) and a 5-in-1 media card reader. The large screen means that there's room for a full-sized keyboard -- including a number pad -- so typing is as comfortable as it is on a desktop keyboard.

Now for the bad news: In addition to its noticeably high price, the Dragon also requires a packhorse to cart it around, since it weighs in at 15.3 pounds. Battery life lasts around two hours, depending on settings, which really is not too bad considering the performance of this beast.

If you're looking for the ultimate in portable gaming and multimedia, and you've got the pocketbook and back support to carry this laptop home, you won't find too many high-definition portable computers in the class of the HP Pavilion HDX.


Pros: Great gaming performance, excellent HD features
Cons: Heavy, expensive

Warranty
1 year, limited